Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Competition ❯ Sasuke's Memories! ( Chapter 4 )

Please see previous chapters for warnings

 

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Naruto or its characters.

 

Beta'd by Darkmisstical

 

Chapter 4: Sasuke's Memories!

 

Summary: Sasuke relives what happened to him during his battle with Gaara and his crew. What could they have done to knock him unconscious?

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Flashback

 

Sasuke walked through the forest muttering to himself. (yes, he talks to himself sometimes. It's perfectly normal! Isn't it…?)

 

`That task was too simple…we need to move onto something harder like climbing trees. I never could get the hang of that. I gotta ask Sakura how she did it, maybe she can help.' His stomach gave a lurch and he then found himself thinking about lunch. `Damn…I'm starving. Once I get home it's gonna be ramen…wait ramen? I'm beginning to sound like Naruto. That's creepy.'

 

Voices started to reach his ears. Voices he had never heard before. He walked on quickening his stride. When it sounded like they were right over the next shrubbery he bent down low crawling beneath the bush. He moved the branches and twigs out of the way and that's when he saw `em. Those two spooks from Sand, Gaara and Kankuro.

 

“Must we wait for her?” Kankuro whined. “She's so gotdamn slow it's unbearable!”

 

“Patience is a virtue,” Gaara said. He stood leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

 

“Not right now it isn't,” he mumbled

 

“What was that?” Gaara asked opening one eye to stare at his bro.

 

“Err…nothing Gaara, you must be hearing things,” Kankuro said smiling weakly while breaking out into a sweat.

 

“So…you're calling me deaf, now. Is that it?” Gaara said opening both his crimson eyes. They glinted in Kankuro's direction.

 

“N-No! Gaara you misunderstand!” Kankuro pleaded wishing he hadn't said anything smart. When he and Gaara got into fights it usually ended with Gaara winning and Kankuro bleeding.

 

Fortunately before Kankuro could put anymore foot into his mouth a log connected with the back of his head knocking him off his feet to the ground. Gaara stared at Kankuro's twitching body with mild interest then said, while looking at the newcomer, “A log, Temari? That's a bit overkill isn't it?”

 

“It's what he gets for calling me slow!” she said walking through the thicket of the woods.

 

Sasuke received the impression that...they were idiots. `Hn, they remind me of Naruto…' he thought watching.

 

“Where to now, Gaara?” Temari asked as Kankuro stood up rubbing the back of his head, which had a huge lump. “Serves you right!”

 

“Yeah, whatever fat-ass…” Kankoru muttered.

 

Unfortunately, he didn't mutter it low enough. “What are you doing looking at my ass?!” Temari yelled going red in the face. She bopped him over the head.

 

“Ouch…! Well, it's so damn big how can I not notice it?”

 

As they fought Gaara said, “I swear you two love each other…”

 

“Eww! Disgusting! We're related!” Temari said shoving Kankuro to the ground.

 

“Hey! What the hell was that for?” He yelled angrily. He stood up brushing the dirt off his clothes.

 

“What was what for?”

 

“Amazing…she wails on me without even noticing it,” Kankuro said shaking his head.

 

It was then that Sasuke got a really good look at them to see that from their those-who-hide-in-sand headbands that they had aspired to the level of genin ninja. `How could that be? Weren't the lands supposed to be even in the distributing of the forehead protectors? Why do they have theirs when we don't?'

 

Before he could delve any deeper into the theory Kankuro's eyes glinted in his direction. Sensing that they knew he was there he figured it was no use in hiding anymore. He stood up walking around the bush with a grin on his face.

 

“Sand ninja's…am I right?” Sasuke asked. “How long did you know I was here?”

 

“Since you were first stupid enough to hide under that bush,” Kankuro said grabbing the bundle of wrappings on his back and turning to Gaara. “C'mon man, it hasn't had any exercise and this little pipsqueak here hasn't even graduated so he should be easy pickings…right now at any rate.”

 

Gaara opened his eyes slightly. “I'd rethink that Kankuro. This is Uchiha Sasuke, the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan.”

 

Sasuke didn't even bother explaining his ass of a brother. In truth he didn't really feel like talking about the person who invaded his dreams night after night turning them instantly into nightmares.

 

“Like I care.” Kankuro put the bundle in front of him.

 

`What the hell could be in there?' Sasuke wondered staring at the human sized package. He frowned slightly at the fact that all he wanted to do was go home and eat a big fat bowl of ramen. “Damn.”

 

Kankuro pulled one strand of wrapping and the whole thing fell off revealing his technique. The Kugutsu no Jutsu. It was a puppet about his size with a shabby brown cloth slung over it's body like a ripped up poncho. It had a bushel full of brown hair and two cookie-monster googly eyes for eyeballs. As it moved it made loud creaking noses. “Man, it is super rusty. This should loosen it up.”

 

Temari shuddered. “God, I hate when he brings that damn thing out. It should be locked up forever.”

 

“It feels the same way about you.” As Kankuro said this, his fingers glowed as strings made of chakra trailed to the puppet. “Let's see here…dang, it's been so long I almost don't know how to control it.”

 

“Yeah, imagine that seeing as how you use every chance you get,” Gaara said as sand rose under his feet lifting him onto a nearby tree. Temari grabbed a low hanging branch and climbed her way up.

 

“Go easy on the Uchiha,” Temari said blushing.

 

“Can't you go for five minutes without falling for some guy? That kinda crap isn't needed in a shinobi lifestyle; that can get you killed. You make me want to kill you so someone else can't,” Gaara sighed flashing his eyes in her direction.

 

Temari shivered as she thought, `Jeez! He's mean to his own damn sister! I wonder…if he'd really…nah, he wouldn't. We're the only family he has left.'

 

Sasuke smirked and kicked a pebble that smacked the doll right between the eyes. It's head shot back then flung forwards like a jack-in-the-box. Kankuro merely chuckled as the `crow zoomed towards Sasuke with such speed he didn't have time to dodge. Kankuro flipped two of his fingers and the `crow started jabbing at every inch of him he could reach knocking him back. It finished by throwing a kunai. Sasuke hit the dirt and the weapon stuck to the tree behind him.

 

`Hn…it's obvious that the fag with the cat ears is in control of the puppet using those strings of chakra. So I gotta take him out first,' he thought standing up and grabbing a throwing star from his pouch.

 

He readied himself for the next attack. The puppet held one of it's hands behind its back. `This is it!' With a blinding flash of light it threw a purple ball at Sasuke who had thrown up his arms to shield his eyes. He removed his arm only to get hit directly in the face by the projectile. In a puff of smoke a log had taken Sasuke's place. It melted instantly.

 

“Hm, the art of substitution, eh? Well used,” Kankuro said while shaking his head. “But futile none the less.”

 

Gaara slightly opened his eyes aiming them at a certain tree but remained silent. `Hmph! If Kankuro can't sense where that Uchiha is far be it from me to tell him where. Not like I care if he gets killed.'

 

Sasuke leapt from his hiding spot landing on the puppet's head. He jumped away as it swatted at him and threw the shuriken at the back of its neck making it slump over. Then he started running at Kankuro grabbing a kunai from his pouch. “You're mine!”

 

“Sorry, but I don't swing that way,” Kankuro said calmly. “I'd rather bone my sister than--” The rest of his words were gargled as Temari leapt down punching him dead in the face. “Aheh heh, ya know, never mind.”

 

As Sasuke got closer Kankuro gave his hands a tug and the puppet came swooping beneath Sasuke knocking him off his feet. It then whirled around and, using it's bushy head, vollyballed him into the air. Following Sasuke it started spinning at high velocities knocking him everywhere with it's wooden hands. As Sasuke fell, Kankuro flicked his middle finger and the puppet caught the kunai Sasuke dropped flinging it back in the direction it came from. Sasuke gave a howl of pain as it made contact lodging itself in his body.

 

“Okay Kankuro, that's enough, right? You are going to let him live, right?” Temari asked watching Sasuke plummet to the ground. She cringed at the line of blood seeping from the slit in Sasuke's body

 

“There's some debate to that,” Kankuro grinned. “I feel the lesson hasn't sunken in yet.”

 

“What lesson?! All you did was beat the tar out of him!” Temari screeched.

 

“Ah, but there is a lesson to be learned. Never rush into a fight when it's one against three. Especially three people who have ascended to the level of genin no less. That's the most important right there.”

 

Gaara held out his hand and sand materialized under Sasuke lowering him to the ground. “Wouldn't want to end the battle so quickly…at least without him getting a few licks in,” he said closing his eyes.

 

Panting and twitching from the pain Sasuke found his body was so thrashed that he couldn't make contact with his legs to get up. “Huff…son of a-damn. This isn't looking so good.”

 

“So good? Dude, I could kill you if I wanted. This is beyond `so good',” Kankuro said chuckling. “Oh, lemme see if I can still pull off this trick. Haven't done it in so long.”

 

Temari sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Kankuro, why the hell do you keep saying you haven't used that filthy rag doll in like forever? You use the damn thing every chance you get! It's only been about two days since your last kill!”

 

“Hey! Two days is like an eternity for me!” Kankuro said outraged. “Sometimes I worry about you.”

 

“I know the feeling…” Temari muttered.

 

Kankuro walked over to Sasuke kneeling down beside his jerking body. He grasped the kunai yanking it out forcefully relishing Sasuke's yells. “So, this is the famous Uchiha…the sole survivor of that massacre. Hmph, so not the drama. No wonder your family died. If you're this weak I'd hate to have seen you back then.”

 

With a jerk Sasuke brought his knee up nailing Kankuro in the neck making blood dribble over his bottom lip. He stumbled backwards as Sasuke flipped up and rushed him. “You bitch!” He delivered a barrage of fist flurries to the gut then back-kicked him straight into the dirt.

 

Sasuke gasped as Kankuro stood up almost immediately wiping the blood away from his mouth. Nary a scratch was on him. The part that made him tense up was the fact that he was smiling. “What was that supposed to be? I hope that wasn't you're best shot!” He flicked three of his fingers and the scarecrow threw another purple ball. Sasuke got hit full in the back because his attention was on Kankuro. He didn't melt in a gelatinous puddle of blood and bones but his skin flashed a sickly green then returned to its original color. He fell to his knees clutching his heart.

 

“What…what have you done to me?” He gasped gripping the ground in pain.

 

Temari came up beside Kankuro staring down at the trembling Sasuke. “Yeah…what did you do to him?”

 

“Injected him with a blood sucking poison. There's a virus moving through his veins sucking up all that lovely red fluid. I can then take this blood and transfer it to the puppet so he can use an opponents move against him…or her,” Kankuro said staring at Sasuke as he writhed in pain.

 

“Aauggh!” Sasuke gripped his head in agony as his veins started showing themselves on his skin.

 

“Stop it Kankuro!” Temari shouted.

 

“Not yet…more blood is needed,” he replied watching Sasuke. “Heh…his torment is like going to the movies for me. Wish I had some popcorn.”

 

“Fools…” Gaara muttered.

 

Sasuke's screams echoed throughout the woods making several birds take flight. He twisted and pounded the ground in torment.

 

Kankuro flared his eyes as he hissed, “That's it!”

 

Blood erupted from Sasuke's pores making it looks like he had gotten shot by a tommy gun. It melded with the puppet making it twitch but otherwise nothing significant happened. It was then that Shikamaru neared the sight having heard Sasuke's screams. He ducked into a bush watching wide eyed as the bloodied Sasuke scooted away panting fiercely.

 

`What the hell…? What did they do to him? Why's he so bloody?' he wondered breaking out in a sweat.

 

Sasuke, with the help of a tree, stood up unsteadily. “You son of a…a…b-bitch.”

 

“Okay, foul-mouth, that earned you smack down. You'd think having your blood sucked out would've shut your trap but no; you keep talking.”

 

Shikamaru stifled his gasp and swallowed the vile that had entered his mouth. `What the hell did he say? They…they sucked out his blood? How? And more importantly why? Those sick bastards!' Shikamaru thought shaking more with rage than fright.

“Do your worst, cat-man,” Sasuke said grinning emptily.

 

A vein throbbed underneath Kankuro's headband/cat hat. “Puppet go!” He yanked both of his hands back and the marionette zoomed towards Sasuke wrapping the strings of chakra around him then finally latching itself onto him.

 

Sasuke stared the creature dead in its googly eyes. “You…sure are ugly.”

 

It threw its head back in a silent scream and pressed it's wooden fingers and toes into the pressure points on his back. Sasuke shrieked in pain as he felt a piece of his side part way with the rest of him. Then the doll brought its head forward bashing Sasuke and knocking him out.

 

Shikamaru bit his tongue and clamped a hand firmly over his mouth. It was all he could do to keep from screaming and rushing out. `I-I have to get out of here! If they find me…well, that's that! They won't `cause I ain't givin' `em a chance!'

 

Kankuro's voice kept him rooted to the spot. “Well, will ya look at that. He's still alive, thoroughly beat and bleeding but still alive. Amazing.”

 

“Cut the bull. You didn't want to kill him,” Gaara said making them both whiz around. He hopped down to the ground. “Let's go. Either you're going to kill him or let him live. Decide before I get restless and kill you.”

 

“Fine, fine! I'll kill him,” Kankuro said walking over the unconscious Sasuke and picking him up by his shirt cuff.

 

Shikamaru grit his teeth as he knew what he had to do. `Gotta be fleet of foot on this one or not only does he die…I die!' He steadied himself then leapt out of the bushes dashing across the grounds at break-neck speed. He whipped out a kunai as he neared Kankuro who had momentarily frozen. In the blink of an eye Shikamaru had cut the part of shirt Kankuro held, caught Sasuke, and was zipping off through the trees. He was out of sight before they could do anything.

 

Kankuro shook his head as he came back to his senses. “Okay, what the hell was that all about?”

 

“My gosh you're stupid. Obviously that was one of Sasuke's friends come to help him,” Temari said smiling that Sasuke had gotten away. `Thank God. Too many cute boys die at the hands of these two.'

 

Gaara chuckled to himself, which was extremely rare. Kankuro and Temari eyed each other then started laughing nervously. He walked between them heading in the direction Shikamaru had come from with his chuckle becoming a laugh. They stopped laughing immediately as a bleeding gash appeared on Kankuro's cheek. Now Gaara was frowning.

“You said you'd kill him. Then, he got away. I don't like being lied to Kankuro,” Gaara said with an icy voice.

 

Kankuro closed his eyes and started inhaling and exhaling to lower his temper. As much as he cared for his younger brother he sometimes wanted to take that gourd and shove it right up his ass until sand came out his nose. “Sorry…Gaara.”

 

“It's all right. Just, next time, don't say things if you don't mean them.”

 

End Flashback

 

TBC

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A/N: This chapters a little short, I know. But I hope you like it anyway. Please review.